We recognise that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, therefore we are committed to taking positive action and doing what we can to protect our world.

In April 2022, the Department for Education published the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the education and children’s services systems. It set a strategic aim for education institutions to be net zero by 2030, with Government legislation to meet net zero by 2050.

What does net zero mean?

Net zero means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. These gases are produced through agricultural practices and from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Net zero means reducing carbon emissions (footprint) to zero.

Why is it important to be net zero?

Rising greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere are causing our planet to increase in temperature. This climate change is occurring at a rate much faster than anticipated. Its impacts can be devastating and include extreme weather, more forest fires and rising sea levels.

To limit global warming, emissions must be decreased drastically to achieve net zero.

Can we be fully net zero?

Not all carbon emissions can be reduced to zero, sometimes it is not financially feasible and in other situations, such as manufacturing, it is impossible to eliminate emissions.  Remaining carbon emissions can be ‘cancelled out’ by offsetting the emissions, known as ‘carbon offsetting’. Restoring forests by planting trees is one of the most popular ways of carbon offsetting, as trees naturally absorb and store carbon dioxide. 

How does net zero link to sustainability?

Reducing our environmental footprint, particularly in the drive to achieve net zero is a critical aspect of sustainability.

Working towards net zero links to some of the UN Sustainable Development Goals including goal 7: affordable and clean energy goal 12: responsible consumption and production and goal 13: climate action.

By achieving net zero, we can limit the negative impact of human activity on the environment and move towards a more sustainable future.

What we are doing as a trust

We have carried out a SWOT analysis which demonstrates the active steps we have taken across the trust to reduce our environmental footprint including reducing energy consumption, however, to achieve our carbon pledge to be net zero we need to first know what our carbon emissions are.

Following training, we now understand carbon management which will drive climate action. The first step in carbon management is to measure our carbon footprint and track our current carbon impact across energy, transport, work practices and waste.

Our methodology for measuring and reporting carbon emissions follows the World Resources Institute (WRI) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Standard. This framework helps us provide standardisation and comparability against other businesses measuring carbon emissions.

According to the GHG protocol, carbon emissions emitted by organisations and their value chain can be categorised into Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3.

• Scope one is direct greenhouse (GHG) emissions associated with fuel combustion in boilers, furnaces, and vehicles.
• Scope two is indirect GHG emissions, like electricity or energy that is bought for controlling temperatures in buildings and is produced on an organisation's behalf (Scope 2 emissions physically occur at the facility where they are made however, they are accounted for in an organisation’s GHG inventory because they are a result of the organisation’s energy use).
• Scope three emissions are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by the reporting organisation, but that the organisation indirectly impacts in its value chain. For example, emissions produced by staff commuting and water usage.

In line with the GHG protocol, we have already measured:

• Scope 1 - gas emissions and business commuting (minibus mileage).
• Scope 2 – electricity consumption.

Scope 3 is harder to measure and will require staff input to capture employee commuting. The team are also looking at ways to measure paper usage, printing and waste generated including food waste.

Although we don’t measure food waste yet, some schools have already implemented waste management by ordering meals weekly and encouraging parents to select meals with their child to reduce food waste.

The purchasing of goods and services is an important factor in measuring scope 3 emissions. The Department for Education's Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy promotes the procurement of goods and services from suppliers who are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Therefore, during the tender process, we request a copy of the net zero action plan from potential suppliers.

What is the cost of net zero?

There will be some upfront costs associated with transitioning to net zero. As a trust, we invested in LED lighting across our schools which has resulted in an 11% decrease in electricity consumption (equivalent of 83,000 kWh of electricity less). However, the rising cost of electricity has offset any financial gains from the energy reduction.

Before converting and investing in low or renewable energy, such as solar panels, we need to consider the carbon impact and likely energy costs.

Making changes to reduce energy usage

To reduce energy consumption and become more energy efficient we have examined the electricity usage at certain schools using heatmaps available through our energy provider.

The example below is of a 'good' heatmap because it is consistently electricity efficient. Green indicates low electricity usage (at night when the school is closed) and red indicates high electricity usage (usually lunchtime when the kitchen is in use).

The example below is of a particularly ‘bad’ heatmap showing areas of red and yellow during times when the school is closed, most likely caused by hot water boilers running through the night.

We have worked with office managers to investigate reasons for high usage and resolve the problem.

Next step towards net zero

Measurement is only the first step in carbon management. The next step is to create a net zero action plan to show specific actions to reduce our carbon footprint and quantify carbon-saving projections based on our data. We are busy working on an action plan that focuses on really reducing our emissions rather than carbon offsetting activities and paving the way for real climate action.

We have begun sharing knowledge on carbon management with office and site staff whose actions will play a vital part in achieving our goal to be 50% net zero by 2030 and fully net zero by 2050.